EWEA: New Legislation Needed To Meet Climate Commitment

The European Union (EU) must put extra legislation in place in the lifetime of the current European Commission if it is to meet its commitment to cut domestic carbon emissions by 80% to 95% by 2050, the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) warns.

In its new report, ‘EU Energy Policy to 2050,’ the organization makes the following recommendations:

– Creating a binding emissions performance standard to limit carbon emissions on new power plants, starting at 350g/KWh – the emissions of a gas plant – and going down over time to encourage technological progress;

– Reducing Europe's domestic emissions by 30% by 2020 instead of the current 20% target, which includes reductions outside the EU; and

– Setting domestic emissions reduction targets for 2030, 2040 and 2050, taking the power sector to zero carbon by 2050, as well as a 2030 renewable energy target.‘Europe needs to agree to new policies and targets now for the period after 2020 to achieve the 80% to 95% emissions reduction it has committed itself to,’ says Christian Kjaer, CEO of EWEA. ‘EWEA believes a more ambitious emissions reduction target for 2020, alongside additional goals for 2030 and 2040, an emissions performance standard and a new renewable energy target for 2030, can drive the revolution in energy systems which EU heads of state recently acknowledged is necessary.’

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